Zeytinyağlı Biber Dolması (Turkish Rice-Stuffed Peppers)
زیتون یاغلی بیبر دولماسی (چاول بھری ترکی شملہ مرچ)
Turkish cooks stuff almost every vegetable they can, and stuffed peppers are among the best loved. This is the olive oil version (zeytinyağlı), with no meat: the peppers are filled with rice cooked with lots of onion, a few currants and pine nuts, dried mint and a little cinnamon and allspice, then simmered gently and left to cool. It's served at room temperature with lemon wedges, which makes it perfect for making ahead and for summer.
- ⏱ Total: 1 hr 20 min
- Prep: 30 min
- Cook: 50 min
- Medium
- Serves 6
Method
Tap a step when it is done.
Heat the olive oil in a pan and cook the onions on medium-low heat for 10 minutes until soft and sweet. Add the pine nuts and cook for 2 minutes.
Add the drained rice and stir for 2 minutes. Add the currants, tomato, mint, cinnamon, allspice, sugar, salt and 1 cup hot water. Cover and cook on low heat for 8 minutes until the water is absorbed but the rice is still firm. Stir in the parsley and cool slightly.
Cut a lid off the top of each pepper and remove the seeds. Fill loosely with the rice (it will swell) and replace the lids.
Stand the peppers upright in a pot. Pour 1 cup hot water and a little olive oil around them, cover with a plate to hold them steady, then the lid. Simmer on low heat for 35–40 minutes until the peppers are soft and the rice is tender.
Let them cool in the pot. Serve at room temperature or chilled, with lemon wedges.
Kitchen notes
Don't overfill. The rice expands as it cooks and can split the peppers.
Use short-grain rice like Turkish baldo or Italian risotto rice. Basmati works but is less creamy.
The same filling stuffs tomatoes, courgettes and vine leaves.
The dolma family
Dolma means “stuffed” in Turkish, and it’s one of the great Ottoman food families, spread from the Balkans to the Caucasus. Peppers, tomatoes, courgettes, eggplants, vine and cabbage leaves are all stuffed. Versions with meat are served hot; olive-oil versions with rice are served cold.
The filling
The rice filling for zeytinyağlı dolma is called iç pilav. Its flavour comes from a large amount of slowly cooked onion, which turns sweet, plus a combination that’s distinctly Ottoman: currants, pine nuts, dried mint, cinnamon and allspice. A pinch of sugar balances the tomato. The rice is only part-cooked before stuffing, so it finishes inside the peppers and absorbs their juices.
Peppers and rice abroad
Turkish dolmalık biber are small, thin-skinned green peppers. Small bell peppers in any colour are the easiest substitute. Pine nuts are expensive everywhere; chopped almonds or simply leaving them out is fine.
Serving
Serve as part of a spread with cacık, yaprak sarma and bread, or as a light lunch with yogurt and a çoban salatası.
Questions people ask
Why serve it cold?
Olive-oil dishes in Turkey are always served cool. The flavours settle and the rice firms up, and the oil tastes cleaner.
Can I add meat?
Yes. Etli biber dolması uses raw mince mixed into the rice, and is served hot with garlic yogurt.
How long does it keep?
3–4 days in the fridge, and it tastes better on the second day.
Nutrition (estimate, per serving)
- Calories
- 280
- Protein
- 4 g
- Fat
- 17 g
- Carbs
- 30 g
